Declaring victory in the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the BJP is leading in more than 200 seats against Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC), which has been in power for three terms.
The Election Commission of India began counting votes for the 2026 Assembly elections, and soon after the BJP took an early lead only to widen the gap against the TMC.
After several rounds of counting, the BJP was leading or winning 205 seats, according to ECI data at 6pm, while the TMC was struggling in second place with a margin of 82 seats.
Prime Minister Modi said on the
“The people have given a wonderful mandate to the BJP and I assure them that our party will do everything in its power to fulfill the dreams and aspirations of the people of West Bengal. We will provide a government that ensures opportunities and dignity to all sections of society,” he said.
Set to wrest power from the TMC in Mamata Banerjee’s stronghold in Bengal, the BJP kicked off celebrations as its lead consolidated on Friday amid vote counting.
BJP leaders sent a scare to Mamata Banerjee, who midway issued a distress message of sorts, asking party representatives not to leave the counting stations. She also assured the Transitional Military Council of reaching a positive result, saying that things would turn around “after sunset.”
The West Bengal Assembly has a total of 294 seats, however, 293 seats have been counted due to re-poll in Valta constituency.
The TMC said later in the day that people should accept the judgment of the people, but questioned the “extraordinarily slow” counting process.
“Whatever judgment people make, it should be accepted by everyone in a civilized society. However, the counting process has been extraordinarily slow. Earlier, in 2021, nearly 90% of the counting was completed within eight-and-a-half hours; now, only 6-8 rounds have been completed in the same time frame. I urge everyone to be patient,” TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee said.
“I also appeal to all Trinamool agents not to leave the counting stations under any circumstances. In several places, the results have not even been revealed to the media. In Bardhaman Dakshin, the Trinamool Congress has already achieved victory, yet the recount is underway,” he said.
He added that in Kalyani there were at least eight electronic devices in which the control unit data did not match the Form 17C.
